Anthony Martial‘s campaign might already be over, thanks to the knee injury he picked up while on duty for France over the March international break.
The striker’s expected absence from Sunday night’s match between Manchester United and Brighton and Hove Albion was confirmed upon the release of the teamsheets, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer offering a grim prognosis ahead of the 19:30 BST kick-off.
The United boss said:
Unfortunately, he sprained his knee with France. It’s always when they go away on internationals… you can keep your fingers crossed and hope that they come back fit.
But losing Anthony for what might be the rest of the season is very disappointing, especially when reports and signals are from there [France] that it wasn’t anything serious but it looks a bad one.
Alex Telles was feeling a bit ill, not COVID related, but he’s not fit enough to play.
Martial has been in underwhelming form for much of the campaign and hasn’t been on many Fantasy radars in some time but any lengthy absence would only boost Edinson Cavani‘s prospects of more Premier League starts, with the obvious caveat being the rotation risk around the UEFA Europa League ties.
The veteran Uruguayan leads the line for the Red Devils tonight and is one of two changes that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has made from United’s last Premier League game three weeks ago.
Daniel James is the man to make way for Cavani, with Paul Pogba replacing Scott McTominay in midfield.
Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood recover from injury to feature, while Bruno Fernandes will be looking to add to the four attacking returns he had registered in two previous meetings with the Seagulls.
Dean Henderson keeps his place ahead of David de Gea, with Solskjaer explaining:
We’ve got nine league games, we’ve got Europa League. With the two options I’ve got, it’s a difficult one to leave one out as both of them have done well enough to play.
Brighton are unsurprisingly unchanged from their excellent 3-0 win over Newcastle United.
Dan Burn isn’t involved in the matchday squad, with Graham Potter having previously confirmed that the left-sided defender was still struggling for fitness.
Manchester United XI: Henderson, Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire, Shaw, Fred, Pogba, Fernandes, Greenwood, Cavani, Rashford.
Brighton and Hove Albion XI: Sanchez, White, Dunk, Veltman, Gross, Lallana, Bissouma, Moder, Trossard, Maupay, Welbeck.
3 years, 12 days agoNo Shaw :(((( after missing 50+ pts for not picking him on WC!@@ arrrhhhh. Should have gone TAA in hindsight